Cheltenham is a south St. Louis neighborhood bound by Oakland to the north, Manchester to the south, Macklind to the east and Hampton to the west:
The 2000 census counted a mere 480 residents (20% decline from 1990s count) of whom 80% white, 14% were black, 2% Asian and 2% Hisp/Latino. Only 262 housing units were counted, 90% occupied, split 55%/45% owner/renter. Obviously, this is not a largely residential neighborhood, and the data show a substantial loss of residents from 1990 to 2000.
The 2010 Census data was all good news with 620 residents counted, a ~22% increase over 2000. The racial breakdown shifted as well to 67% white, 15% black, 11% Asian and 4% Hisp/Latino.
The hits just kept on coming for Cheltenham in 2020 where 2X residents were added along with 540 housing units. Racially it is
This five-fold jump in Asian residents and doubling of Hispanic/Latino residents, coupled with a loss of white residents is rather rare for this part of the city. This is becoming a more diverse neighborhood.
This part of town feels like Dogtown to me, but technically, I suppose Dogtown is comprised of the three neighborhoods of Clayton-Tamm, Franz Park and Hi-Pointe. Either way, most of the houses in Cheltenham are frame homes and exist in the southwest portion of the neighborhood:
^Not sure what the sign above the door means, but it piqued my curiosity.
A little history on this pocket of St. Louis:
The history of Cheltenham goes back to 1798. The area then was known to run from what we now call Kingshighway on the east and went as far as the City limits on the west end. At that time River de Peres was a clear crystal stream. It made a good area for settlements. In later years, immigrants were drawn to the area because they needed work. The factories sprung up with the mining of clay. The earliest and largest of the enterprises was the Laclede Fire Brick Company, which began in 1844., but expanded rapidly with the coming of the railroad. Irish, Italian,German, and Polish immigrants came to wok in the factories. In 1861 the Catholic Diocese established a mission which grew into St. James the Greater Parish. The Cheltenham public school opened in 1868. By World War II, most of the mines had shut down and the brick yards had closed. Subdivisions were built over the mines and pits. Source
I'm kind of surprised the website doesn't mention the Highlands Amusement Park or the Arena. The Arena will always be the Checkerdome to me, as this is where I saw my first Blues game, and witnessed a fight that broke out in the stands....I was hooked. People would be walking to the games through the neighborhood carrying twelve packs of Busch on the way to the old barn. Mullets were sighted.
A former incarnation:
The one I experienced:
Cheltenham was also home to the Highlands, a park that started as a beer garden in 1896 and evolved into an amusement park the operated into the 1960's when a fire destroyed most of the park on July 19, 1963. It boasted one of the largest public swimming pools in the nation and the roller coasters were huge attractions in their day and there is a book devoted to the Highlands that chronicles the amusement park's history.
You can view some of the roller coasters here.
You can't deny the awesome location of Cheltenham. It's a stones throw from Forest Park, the shopping and services on Hampton Avenue, the access to I-64, the proximity to Barnes-Jewish /Children's Hospital, the Central West End, Forest Park Southeast and the Grove strip of Manchester.
The northern edge of Cheltenham contains the Highlands offices & lofts and Forest Park Community College.
There is a Hampton Inn and office buildings within the Highlands development. There is retail space in one of the office buildings, home to a Jimmy Johns and an amazing coffee shop called Comet Coffee. There is a restaurant/bar space attached to the hotel and Barnes Jewish has an office here as well:
The lofts are attractive and have surely added much needed residents to the area:
Cheltenham is decidedly becoming mixed use with the addition of more residential blending in with the commercial uses.
There are many businesses offices and industries mainly along Macklind and Manchester, but also within the neighborhood:
^I wonder if the lobby smells like onions?
^If you are into high-end, vintage motorcycles or scooter, you have to check out Motorrad of St. Louis.
^Tarlton contractors has a facility in Chetenham, kind of reminds me of a fort (is this brutalism):
American Pulverizer has a handsome office building along Macklind and a pretty cool sign toward the back of the property:
The Humane Society of Missouri is also located along Macklind:
There aren't many independent restaurants or bars, but I did come across a few:
^Nicks' Pub at Manchester and Sulphur.
^Imo's pizza at Hampton and Oakland.
^The Arena Bar and Grill, I bet this place was jumping when the Checkerdome/Arena was in full swing. This place reminds me of small town bars in New England.
The #6 (formerly #42) firehouse is at 5747 Manchester Avenue:
As you can see, Cheltenham is a mostly industrial neighborhood and is anchored by the Forest Park Community College, Humane Society and the Highlands offices/condos.
Cheltenham used to be home to Fox 2 News along Berthold, right off of Hampton, but they recently chose to abandon the city who they are supposed to be covering, and set up shop in the bland town of Maryland Heights, MO near Page and Lindbergh. It's like they never left, the satellites and signage is still there as of publishing:
Here's to Cheltenham gaining even more residents in the 2020 Census!
***In August, 2020 I revisited the neighborhood; the following includes updated commentary and photos.***
Misses On Original Tour
No glaring misses on this one.
Noticeable Changes
The Cortona at Forest Park brought ~278 new apartments to the neighborhood. I visited the Cortona in 2014 when it was still under construction. Pair that with the Encore at Forest Park which brought another ~246 apartments and you have 524 new apartments in Cheltenham. This is why you’ll likely see another bump in population in the 2020 Census count.
These buildings are massive and when we in a work from home environment these days, the parking lots look nearly full.
The businesses are constantly evolving, the loss of the Fox 2 News studio to the burbs brought a new opportunity for a high profile property at I-64 and Hampton, the fourth auto dealership in the city: Mercedes-Benz of St. Louis who built a gorgeous new showroom and dealership.
The other big Cheltenham story of the last ten years is the demo of one of the Forest Park Community College brutalist towers to build make way for a new Health Science building. They appear to be “capping” the section of the former tower they took down.
The brutalist section to the left was torn down recently.
There are a couple examples of newer homes being built in the last ten years, but not many. The homes are still largely the smaller post-war single family structures you see in parts of North Hampton, Walnut Park East and others.
The neighborhood has taken advantage of the speed humps that have come in the last 5-10 years. Traffic calming doesn’t seem like too big of an intra-neighborhood issue.
What Are The Future Needs
The neighborhood likely won’t change just too much aside from businesses coming and going, most of which are auto-centric drive trough situations on Hampton. A dramatic change like Cheltenham has seen from 2010-2020 likely will not continue.
The Forest Park Community College site has an over abundance of surface parking lots which seem to far outpace the student and employee population on campus. I would like to see this campus highlighted as the central gem of the community college system and get some infill on the unused space. The college uses separate buildings on outskirts of the property. It would be ideal to see these offices and spaces move onto campus to make it a more contiguous place.
SLCC - Art Annex - out building east of campus
One of our favorite antique markets, Green Swag, on Manchester is always a fun visit. Manchester could benefit from some streetscape work. Street trees would go a long way to break up the aging post-industrial vibe this part of town has taken on in the last ten years.
Additional STLCityTalk Reading
The Cortona in the Cheltenham Neighborhood - January, 2014
Forest Park Community College - New Health Science Building - June, 2018
